China and air travel - Exploding

China to spend 500b yuan on boosting civil aviation

Investment backs Silk Road goals, with better connections to Eurasian countries as part of Beijing's effort to open up air transport in the region

China has become the world's second-largest aviation market, with demand for air travel fuelled by rising incomes. 

China will splash out 500 billion yuan (HK$632.6 billion, $80 billion USD) on civil aviation development this year and boost air traffic to Eurasian countries along the "Silk Road", ahead of drawing up a new five-year plan for its fast-growing aviation industry.

Li Jiaxiang, the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said at the Civil Aviation Development Forum in Beijing on Wednesday the aviation regulator was drafting the 13th five-year plan to 2020 for the sector and would push ahead with 193 priority projects this year with a total investment of 500 billion yuan.

Li said 51 of the projects were directly related to President Xi Jinping's "One Belt, One Road" initiative to enhance the country's connectivity with the Eurasia region.